By MorinvilleNews.com staff
Sturgeon County – County Council gave first reading to a bylaw that will add a new subsection to the County’s Land Use Bylaw (LUB) to deal with shipping containers on Sturgeon County properties. The proposed bylaw seeks to define a shipping container as any container originally used to transport goods but now used as a structure for storage.
The bylaw would prohibit such containers from County Residential 2, Country Residential Estate, Hamlet Residential and those properties that are classed Country Residential 1 parcels but are less than 1 hectare. Use of shipping containers would be regarded as discretionary on CR-1 parcels 1 hectare or larger. Where allowed, residents would be permitted to have only one container which must either be obscured from the view of neighbouring properties or painted to match the main dwelling on the property.
Councillor David Kluthe opposed the bylaw and the plan to hold a public hearing on the matter.
“I believe it’s been a waste of staff’s time and resources to bring this forward,” Kluthe said. “I think it’s an attempt to get more fees from residents.”
Councillor Shaw disagreed with Kluthe’s assessment, stating the bylaw was the result of the changing face of Sturgeon County and the ever-changing needs of its residents. “It’s moving us from hillbilly heaven to something more,” Shaw said.
Sturgeon County’s current LUB is silent on the matter of shipping containers. If passed, the bylaw would require development permits for shipping containers in certain land use districts. Permits would not be required in Agricultural, Agricultural – Heartland, Agricultural – Calahoo/Villeneuve, Agricultural-no Gravel extraction, Agricultural – Nature Conservation, Agricultural – Nature Conservation Hearltand, Gravel Extraction, Intermunicipal Fringe, Urban Fringe, Hamlet Commercial, Business industrial, Industrial Heavy, Highway Commercial, Airport, Industrial Rural and the Industrial Service Centre – Heartland Districts.
Council voted 5-1 in favour of holding a public hearing on the bylaw May 24 at 10:30 a.m. Mayor Rigney was absent from the room at the time of the vote.